Greta Gerwig’s push for a major theatrical release for her “Chronicles of Narnia” movie at Netflix worked. The Oscar-nominated “Barbie” filmmaker’s next movie will be released on 1,000 Imax screens over Thanksgiving in 2026, securing an exclusive theatrical window weeks before it streams on Netflix at Christmas.
The move is out of character for Netflix, which has strongly eschewed any kind of significant theatrical rollout in favor of short or non-existent theatrical windows. Rian Johnson’s “Knives Out” sequel “Glass Onion” secured an exclusive theatrical run over Thanksgiving in 2022 in 600 theaters before streaming a month later and Martin Scorsese’s “The Irishman” played in theaters for three weeks before it streamed, but the Imax rollout of “Narnia” is a first-of-its-kind for the mega-streamer.
The deal had been in the works for months as Gerwig lobbied for a fittingly big theatrical presentation for her adaptation of the C.S. Lewis fantasy novels. Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos has long said theatrical is not the streamer’s business, and giving Gerwig a pass opens the door for other filmmakers to request a similar rollout for their films (Guillermo del Toro has “Frankenstein” this year for the streamer, but a firm release date or strategy has not been announced).
The “Narnia” film is due to shoot this year with a screenplay by Gerwig, who also directs and will be shooting with Imax cameras.
Puck was the first to report that the Imax deal had closed.
